


I Never Gave Up

by TheCleverestWitch



Series: Buck Deserves Better [2]
Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Angst, Evan "Buck" Buckley Needs A Hug, Gen, Hurt Evan "Buck" Buckley, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Post-Tsunami (9-1-1), Protective Evan "Buck" Buckley
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-23
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-13 11:02:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29650353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheCleverestWitch/pseuds/TheCleverestWitch
Summary: And then the truck jolted. There wasn’t enough time to grab onto something – it was all too sudden. The man Buck had saved from the car fell into the water with a shout and then he disappeared. Buck lunged forward in an attempt to grab at him, but he was too slow. Buck was left with his hand outstretched, reaching for the man he knew he would never see again. The ladder truck pitched sideways, smashed from the side by something with enough momentum to tip them into the churning water.ORBuck follows Christoper into the water during the second surge of the tsunami. He manages to keep Chris safe but gets severly injured in the process. But we know Buck - he will not rest until his "Superman" is safe.Established Buck/Eddie
Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley & Christopher Diaz (9-1-1 TV)
Series: Buck Deserves Better [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2168847
Comments: 33
Kudos: 330





	1. The Surge

**Author's Note:**

> Lots of hurt in this chapter.  
> I promise the comfort is coming!

“Okay, I spy with my little eye something that… moves people around.”

Chris looked into the churning waters. 

“Um. Oh, a scooter!”

“Ah, yeah. Nice one.” Buck chuckled. The scooter floated innocently by them.

Christoper giggled in triumph and Buck nudged him playfully.

“Okay genius, your turn.”

Chris looked up in that adorable way Buck loved and he felt his heart melt.

“I spy, a shopping cart.”

Buck looked at him, “What, no, come one! That’s not how the game works. You can’t just yell stuff out!”

Chris smiled from ear to ear mischievously and cried upward, “But yelling stuff out is the fun part!”

Buck chuckled, he felt some of the tension around his heart loosen. He looked down at Chris, at a loss for words for a moment. His mouth worked into smile.

“You amaze me buddy.”

“Why?” Chris asked. The boy was oblivious to his own strength. 

“You never gave up.”

Buck paused and looked at his hands – at the group of people huddled atop the fire truck.

“You just kept on swimming.”

“Like Dory?” Chris asked.

Buck’s mouth worked into a smile again.

“Yeah,” he said. “Just like Dory.”

Buck put his arm around Christopher and pulled him in closer. They sat in silence for several minutes. Buck was lost in his thoughts.

The pier. The questions. The stuffed bear. The laughs and the hugs and the high-fives and the cotton candy.

And then the wave. Drowning. Twisting and turning and fighting for a breath when he couldn’t tell which way was up when he didn’t know where he was let alone where Chris was and when he didn’t know if he would make it out of the water. He unconsciously tightened his hold around Chris and kissed the damp curls on his head. Chris opened his mouth in his signature toothy smile.

“I don’t know what I’m gonna tell your father,” Buck broke their comfortable silence with the thought that had plagued him since they’d reached their sanctuary. “You know, I take you out one time and uh, look what happens.”

Chris thought for a moment.

“You saved me.” Buck looked at him shocked. “And you saved them.” Chris motioned with an uncoordinated hand towards their little group on the makeshift life raft. Twelve or so tired and silent people who had been lucky enough to survive the wave, marooned on a ladder truck.

Chris shrugged into Buck’s protective hug.

Buck was speechless for a moment. How could one little boy be so wise.

“No,” he said. “We did that together. Me and you – we make a great team.”

“No,” said Chris in all seriousness. “Me and you and daddy. That’s the best team.”

Buck smiled at the thought of the three of them together: Buck and his boys.

“Give me a high five, I’m proud of you.”

Chris slapped Buck’s hand excitedly three or four times. Buck wrapped his arm around Chris and pulled him tight to his chest. Then they settled back against the truck, lapsing into a tired silence.

But their moment of peace was soon broken. The group surrounding them started to sob quietly and clutch at each other. Buck twisted around and saw why - the souls that had been lost in the tsunami were being dragged out to sea. Some were twisted and bloated, face down in the water. Others were bloody and stretched grotesquely on floating piles of ripped signs and trash. But all of them were unequivocally, irrefutably, dead. Buck clenched his jaw and the despair that Christopher’s smile had so briefly alleviated returned full force. 

He couldn’t let Chris see – he couldn’t let his innocence be tainted. Buck forced a smile on his face and picked Chris up gently, so he was sitting in Buck’s lap, facing away from the water and away from the bodies.

“I, I spy with my little eye, something that is high. So high.” Buck placed his hand gently under Chris’s chin and lifted it to looks towards the sky. Chris giggled unabashedly – oblivious to the despondency of those around him.

The bodies washed past them in a matter of seconds, carried by the sudden rush of water that was pulling them back out to the open ocean. Water that was too fast and too strong, Buck realized. His surroundings were starting to rumble dangerously.

“The water is surging back! Everyone brace yourselves!” He cried to their band of survivors.

And then the truck jolted. There wasn’t enough time to grab onto something – it was all too sudden. The man Buck had saved from the car fell into the water with a shout and then he disappeared. Buck lunged forward in an attempt to grab at him, but he was too slow. Buck was left with his hand outstretched, reaching for the man he knew he would never see again. The ladder truck pitched sideways, smashed from the side by something with enough momentum to tip them into the churning water.

Buck’s world turned upside down as he hit the water face first. He twisted his body and strained every muscle he had. He clawed for the surface but he didn’t know which way was up and which was down. His lungs were imploding. His vision started to darken around the corners and he could feel the desperate bubble of hopelessness try to drag him under. How easy it would be to just give up – no more thinking about blood thinners, or returning to work, or metal rods in his legs. He would never have to worry about being a disappointment again. How easy it would be to just slip under the waves.

_Christopher._

Every delusional thought he had of giving up washed away instantly. Buck reached into the deepest wells of power, pulled from motivations he hadn’t recognized a second ago. The faces of everyone he loved flashed before his eyes. His eyes were open and his mouth was snarled in a roar of exertion.

_Maddie. Bobby. Athena. Eddie._

_Christopher._

Buck’s head breached the surface. He was surrounded by angry water. He twisted desperately, screaming at the top of his lungs.

“CHRISTOPHER. CHRIS. WHERE ARE YOU?!”

He swiveled this way and that, tried to swim against the current. He looked desperately among the trash floating around him. He barely felt as sharp objects swept past his body – he just needed to spot that yellow striped shirt, those goofy ears, that smile.

_There._ Clutching a tree next to what used to be a tourist shop. Chris was using all of his strength, his arms barely making it around the young sapling that so far had survived the barrage of water. But it was splintering.

Buck pushed again, swimming as hard as he could. He felt his muscles pop and strain, his leg throbbed and his chest ached with effort. He had to get to Chris before the tree gave out.

“Chris! Buddy! I’m coming for you,” Buck cried out above the roar of rushing water.

“Bucky!” Chris screamed. “Buck!” He whipped his head around and spotted Buck. Evan felt a surge of relief. He was making progress, slowly and tirelessly swimming against the current, up and across the street to where Chris was clinging and waiting for Buck to save him.

Buck felt something in the water slip past him, slicing open his check. He saw his blood mix with water out of the corner of his eye, but it didn’t matter – nothing mattered except…

Buck’s fingers met Chris’s shirt. He gave one final kick and he had wrapped himself around Christopher and the tree, hugging him tightly to the wood.

Chris sobbed with relief.

“Chris. It’s okay. It’s okay I’m here I gotcha it’s okay,” Buck murmured into his ear. He kissed him on his head as many times as he could manage. Evan was crying as well, he realized.

His breath came in ragged gasps.

Chris was quietly whispering his name in relief; “Bucky, Bucky, Bucky.”

They took a few seconds to calm themselves, but Buck knew they weren’t safe yet. They couldn’t relax. 

“Hey Chris. Can you be brave for me one more time?” Buck asked.

Chris nodded against Buck’s chin.

“I need you to let go of the tree; don’t worry I’ve got you. I need you to turn around and hug me as hard as you can, okay?” Chris nodded again. Evan watched as he took a few seconds to gather his courage. He was trembling as he freed his fingers and did his best to spin around between Evan’s arms and chest and the tree. Buck felt Chris latch on to him. He looked down into the boy’s eyes and faked a smile, “Hey monkey.”

Chris laughed weakly and wiped his tears against Buck’s shirt.

His arms were wrapped securely around Evan’s neck and his legs around his waist. But Buck knew that his strength would give out soon – he could feel it in the tremble of his limbs and could see it in the whiteness of his face.

“Hold on for just one more second monkey. I got ya.”

But Buck couldn’t see the car being swept towards them through the branches of the tree. Buck let go with one arm and clutched Chris to his chest tightly, readying himself to push away from their temporary refuge. He wasn’t fast enough.

Jagged metal crashed through flesh and wood, splintering bones and tree together. Buck let out an unearthly scream as he felt his arm fracture and he and Chris were pushed back into the current of the water. Chris’s scream echoed Evan’s own.

They were at the mercy of the water again.

Buck swallowed a second scream. He allowed himself one ragged sob before his adrenaline kicked in.

Evan’s eyes were alert once more, looking for anything that could save them, anywhere they could hold on. If they didn’t find something soon…

 _There_.

It wasn’t much but it was something, an old movie theater sign in a swirling eddy of water wedged up against the side of a building.

Evan struck out with his legs. His left arm was on fire. The water was bloody around them as he pushed through it clumsily. With his right-hand Evan kept Chris pressed against his chest, shielding him with his body as waves threatened to tear them apart again.

With only two fully functional limbs it took Buck almost fifteen minutes to swim them the short distance to the sign. His lungs were in agony. His leg was throbbing. Evan could hear his heart thumping loudly in his own ears over the desperate gasps of air he drew in. Buck kicked one final time and reached out to place a shaking hand on the sign. His grip slipped off, leaving a handprint of blood. They bobbed below the water until Buck kicked them back up. Chris coughed weakly. Evan gritted his teeth. His nerves were on fire, torn apart by the twisted remains of the car. Evan grunted and threw his hand as far up onto the old sign as he could. He felt the glass of old lightbulbs puncture the meat of his thumb, but that didn’t matter. He had to get Chris to safety.

Buck’s feet hit something as he kicked them desperately, trying to get a purchase on the smooth steel. He peered around Chris and under the water as best he could and saw a sedan trapped under the sign.

 _Perfect_ , Buck thought.

Evan set his feet on the roof of the drowned car and stood up, teetering in the waves. His head was just above the edge of the sign now.

He used his broken arm to reach up and swipe away whatever glass shards remained where the lightbulbs had been screwed in.

Buck peered down at the small, pale figure still trying to hug his neck.

“You ready, Superman?”

Chris nodded tiredly into the crook of Evan’s neck.

Evan gritted his teeth, bracing himself for what he was about to do. With an animalistic howl of effort and pain he pushed off the car, braced his left arm against the sign, and with his right he heaved Christopher over the edge and onto the surface of the sign.

Everything went dark as the pain became too much. Buck felt his lips pull back in a howl, but he couldn’t hear it. He blinked a few times and shook his head. His vision faded in until he was looking at both of his hands clutching desperately at the edge of the sign, Christopher’s small fingers over his in an attempt to keep him from falling backwards. Buck’s unfocused eyes met Chris’s concerned ones. Chris’s mouth was moving but Buck didn’t know what he was saying. Chris was crying and looking at Buck’s left arm. Buck stared down at it dumbly.

His arm was more open wound than whole skin at this point. Cuts and bruises marred every inch of it, and in the very middle… bone, protruding sharply from a wound that was slowly gushing bright red blood into the water around him.

Buck threw up.

The sound seemed to turn on in the middle of his retching. Chris was crying and just repeating, “Bucky, Bucky, Bucky, Bucky.”

Buck felt a small tug on his right wrist – Chris was trying to pull him up next to him with the little strength he had left. Buck’s lips twitched upwards.

“Hang on, Superman. I’m coming.”

Slowly but surely, Buck inched his way up onto the sign – pulling with his right arm and kicking into the water, until he was flat on his back next to Christopher.

Chest heaving, heart racing, head spinning, Buck looked up into the eyes of the person he loved most in the world.

“Hey Chris,” Buck mumbled, and then promptly passed out.


	2. Fruit Snack Savior

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Buck and Chris bandage Buck's injuries and get ready to move on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took me a little while to write.  
> I was in a rut - so I feel like it's not up to my normal standard, but I may also be too critical. Who knows. but I also haven't been able to sleep much so i think that's definitely affected my writing.  
> I hope you enjoy - if you have any suggestions or find any typos please let me know!!!

_Tap. Tap. Tap_

“Bucky.”

_Tap. Tap. Tap._

Buck’s eyelids weighed about a million pounds as he peeled them open. The world around him was fuzzy. He blinked a couple of times. Everything started to come into focus. He looked directly into Chris’s wide brown eyes. They were filled with tears. Buck grunted and raised his right arm to wipe Chris’s cheek. He attempted to speak but all that came out was a rasp. Jesus, he was dry. He unstuck his tongue from the back of his teeth and worked some saliva into his mouth. His gums still felt like they had been rubbed with sandpaper, but he tried speaking again.

“Hey Superman. Why are you crying?”

Chris let out a small sob and buried his face into Buck’s chest. Buck brought up his right hand to pat Chris’s head.

“I..I-I th-thought you were d-d-dead,” Chris wailed.

Buck tried to force something sounding like laughter out of his parched throat.

“It takes more than a natural disaster to put me out of my misery kiddo.”

He let Chris rest there and used the steady beat of Chris’s heartbeat to calm his own more erratic one – they were both alive.

Buck looked around them, taking stock of the situation, as Chris’s whimpers faded to silence.

The street was in shambles. Debris floated past their refuge: smashed cars, broken telephone poles, downed trees, a streetlight. Anything below the third story of the surrounding buildings looked to have been swept away in the crash of the water. Two bodies drifted by – face up on a sign similar to the one Buck and Chris sat on. Silent spectators to their plight.

They had to move. Inland, if possible. Buck waited until the bodies were gone to perturb his companion. Buck craned his neck forward and kissed Chris on the top of his curls. They had dried in the sun.

“Hey superman. I’m gonna need some help. Think you’re up to it?”

Chris pulled back to sit clumsily next to Buck, his legs twisted next to him.

He wiped his eyes – Buck realized he had lost his glasses at some point. Buck swiped his thumb on the remaining tear glistening on Chris’s cheek.

“That’s it. Look how brave you are. Chris, I need help sitting up okay? Do you remember the first aid your Daddy taught us after you cut open your knee skateboarding?”

Christopher nodded solemnly.

“Well we are going to practice some of that on me okay?”

Chris nodded again then got to his knees to hover next to Buck.

Buck mentally counted in his head, _1..2..3.._

He pushed himself up with his good arm.

His vision grayed and the world started spinning. He felt bile rise in the back of his throat. Buck grit his teeth – taking short breaths as the nausea receded. The world started to come into focus again, although it was still spinning wildly. He closed in eyes and breathed in through his nose.

 _Fucking blood thinners_.

He became aware of small nervous hands tugging at his neck. Evan peeled his eyes open slowly. Chris had wrapped his arm around Buck’s neck and had thrown all of his body weight backwards in an attempt to keep Buck in a sitting position.

Groaning slightly (he was pretty sure at least one rib was broken) Buck flexed his abdominals, placed his right hand behind him, and sat up fully.

“Yay! Bucky!” Chris shouted by way of encouragement.

God he loved this kid.

“Superman,” said Buck with a real smile this time, “You saved the day again.” He planted another kiss on Chris’s head. Chris released his grip around Buck’s neck and sat backwards. The look in his eyes told Buck that Chris trusted him completely.

He couldn’t fail him.

The image of Chris falling into the churning water from the ladder truck without Buck came unbidden to his mind.

 _Again_ , he added to himself.

“Hey monkey, how about we play I Spy again while I fix myself up? Okay?”

Chris nodded at the suggestion.

“You start. Nothing in the water though, that’s too easy,” plus he didn’t want Chris to accidentally spot a body.

“I spy, with my little eye,” Chris searched for something, looking into the windows of the building surrounding them.

Buck took the time to discern how deep of shit they were in. They were still on the sign. That was a good thing at least. The base of the broken light bulbs were still screwed in. _Laemmle_ they had read once. Buck knew that was an old movie theater over on 2nd street. But that wasn’t what concerned him. The pool of blood he was sitting in, now that was concerning. Evan bit his lip in thought, then braced himself to look down to his mangled left arm – it was still oozing sluggishly. The lip of the wound was inflamed.

 _Damn, it’s already infected,_ Evan thought.

He tried not to focus on the bone jutting at a sharp angle through the skin. Buck’s mouth went dry again,

 _Shit, Chris has seen his injury_.

Buck looked around them for something to wrap his arm to hide the gruesome wound and stop the bleeding.

“A teddy bear!” Chris said excitedly. Buck picked his head up and smiled at Chris’s expectant gaze. He made a show of looking all everywhere in sight while he used his right hand to place his useless left arm into his lap.

_There._

“Over in the window to the left kiddo. Too easy,” he taunted to Chris.

Chris stuck his tongue out at Evan, who returned the gesture playfully.

“You’re turn Buck!”

“I spy, with my little eye…. Hmm….. Something red.” There was an American flag hanging limply from a window down the street.

Chris squinted around almost comically. Buck swallowed a chuckle; he’d forgotten Chris didn’t have his glasses on.

Buck focused back on his left arm as Chris started to guess.

“Is it a sign of some sort?”

“Nope. Keep guessing!”

The best option he could see for a bandage was his red button up. The shirt was torn and damp from both the sea water and his own blood. It was already ripped at the left shoulder so at least he wouldn’t have to pull it off over his wrist and disturb the protruding bone.

“A flag!” Chris said triumphantly.

“That’s right! Nice one buddy.”

Chris looked around at Buck, squinting in the sunlight and smiling goofily. He smile faded slightly when he saw Buck: pale and grey-faced.

“Hey Chris. We can start up I Spy again in a sec, but I’m gonna need you to be a big boy for me right now. Got it?”

Chris nodded solemly.

“Alright come onto my left side okay? But don’t look at my arm. I’m not as pretty as I normally am right now.”

Chris offered a weaker smile in response to the joke then dutifully scooted to Buck’s damaged side.

“I need you to tear off the rest of my overshirt with me so we can make it into a really big Band-Aid. Can you help me?”

Chris nodded again. He sat at Buck’s side with his small hands pulling on the shirt.

Luckily the fabric was light and weak. With Buck pulling at the right shoulder and Chris at the left, the shirt split the rest of the way.

Chris and Buck worked his right arm out of the sleeve.

He was left with a pitiful amount of stained and torn fabric in his lap, but God it was better than nothing. Using his teeth and his right hand, he ripped it into strips as Chris watched. The effort left him exhausted by the end of it – shaking and dizzy again.

Chris seemed to notice. He crawled over to Buck and took the strips from his lap.

“What do I do with these?” he asked.

“We are going to wrap these around my arm okay? I need to do something first. I need you to look away. Promise me, no matter what – you won’t look back at me.”

Chris held out his pinky to promise and Buck actually smiled.

 _Just like me and Maddie_ , he thought.

Buck pinky promised and Chris went to the edge of their life raft and faced away from his Buck.

Evan picked up a branch that was resting on the sign next to them. He snapped it into smaller pieces.

He knew what he had to do – he couldn’t walk around with his bone poking out.

Buck put the stick between his teeth and bit down. He placed his right thumb down on the fragment of his radius sticking outside of the wound – it was slippery with blood.

Buck closed his eyes in preparation. He couldn’t count for this. He was too scared. He would just have to surprise himse…

Buck let out a scream of agony into the stick between his jaws. His arm was on fire. His world was on fire. Everything hurt. And then it was over. He was shaking and the sky twisted sickeningly above him. He spat out the stick unceremoniously and heaved in gasping breaths. Buck closed his eyes – he couldn’t pass out again and leave Chris all alone.

But he was so tired.

 _No_ , he thought furiously. Buck forced his eyes open again and took steadying breaths. He looked down at his arm – the bone had thankfully disappeared back inside. He knew it would have to be reset at some point, but he hoped that would be in a hospital and there would be a lot of morphine involved. Like a lot of morphine.

“Chris buddy. You can turn around now.”

Chris scooted over on the warm metal surface and spun himself slowly to face Buck.

“What’s next?” he said, all seriousness.

“You’re incredible kiddo. You really are.” Buck shook his head in awe.

“Alrighty. We are going to use those strips you were holding for me to wrap my arm. We need to tie them as tight as possible so I’m going to need you to be really strong for me.”

It took all of Christopher’s trembling strength as well as Buck’s right hand and his teeth to fasten the stick and bandages to his arm. In the end though, Buck thought they had done a pretty good job, all things considered. The wound was sealed beneath a splint and several layers of fabric and the bleeding had thankfully finally stopped. Buck pulled Chris over to his right shoulder.

“You’re a miracle,” he whispered into Chris’s ear and then ruffled his hair.

“I love you Buck.”

“I love you too, Superman.”

They sat silently until their heartrates returned to normal.

“HEY! Hey dude! Hey kid!” Buck whirled around and looked up and down the street. The water was starting to recede he noted, but he didn’t see anyone who could’ve yelled to them.

“Up here!” Came the voice, Buck craned his neck to look at the upper floors of the surrounding buildings. A man in his seventies was leaning out of one of the windows above them. In one hand he was waving the most beautiful thing Buck had ever seen at them.

“I heard you earlier. Didn’t think anyone would be alive down there but look at you two. A sight for sore eyes. I’ve got two extra waters! Thought you might need them.”

“I could kiss you,” Buck called back. “Yes please, we will take them.”

The man gently tossed down the water one at a time. Buck caught each of them awkwardly with his one good hand.

“I have some fruit snacks from when my grandkids came to visit a few months back. You want’em?” the man asked down to them.

Buck looked over to Chris.

“What do you think Chris, how about some fruit snacks?”

Chris looked up at the man in the window with his most toothy grin.

“Yes please mister!” he hollered upwards.

The man in the window chortled. He disappeared for a moment and then returned with a half dozen little bags of the promised food in his hand. Buck managed to grab four of them from the air.

“You are my hero today. Thank you so much,” Buck yelled out.

The older man waved his hands down at them.

“I just wish I could do more, but we’re all trapped up here until they clear the streets and the water recedes,” he said, leaning further out of his window.

Looking around Buck realized at least three other windows were occupied, staring down with hollow eyes at the wreckage below.

“You’ve done more than enough already sir. Do you know where EMS is routing survivors? Any field hospitals?” Buck asked him.

The man thought for a moment.

“Let me check my phone to see if there are any alerts.” He ducked out of view and returned brandishing his smartphone.

“Looks like they just reactivated the old VA Hospital, over on Sawtelle. Follow Santa Monica Boulevard up until you hit the highway, then turn left. About one hour walking when the roads aren’t flooded.”

Buck nodded, he knew the area.

“You’re a godsend. Thank you so much. Stay safe,” Buck said.

“You as well. Good luck you two,” the man said and the waved and closed his window.

Buck looked back down at Chris, who was happily eating from the first bag of fruit snacks. Buck smiled genuinely and ruffled his hair. The two sat contentedly for half an hour. Evan figured they should ration the water but saw no need to hold onto the food. They each finished two bags of gummies in record time and finished one of the water bottles together.

Buck knew he was still in dangerous territory – he was badly injured and to make it worse he’d lost _a lot_ of blood. Not for the first time today he cursed the blood thinners. But he felt steadier.

He looked at Chris who was laying in his lap, playing with Buck’s pant leg and Evan felt his stomach jolt uncomfortably. He realized he’d forgotten to inspect the small Diaz for injuries. The guilt migrated up to his heart, but he managed to brush it off.

He nudged Chris with his knee.

“Hey. Chris. How are you feeling? Do you hurt anywhere? Can I take a look at you?”

Chris grumbled something about a nap but rolled over and struggled into a seat.

Buck ran his hands over the younger boys extremities, checking for bruises and lacerations. He looked for head injuries or any internal injury that could become deadly if it went unnoticed, any bruising that couldn’t be explained on the torso or an uneven pupillary respone. It took him longer than normal – Buck had only one good arm and a head spinning from the blood loss. When he sat back on his heels he was exhausted but satisfied.

“Chris buddy. You are one lucky dude. Couple scratches on your cheek and a small bruise on your leg and you’re ready to go. You really are superman and it looks like there was no kryptonite around.”

Chris smiled again.

“I’m not lucky because of that silly. I’m lucky because I have you. You saved me,” Chris said.

Buck was momentarily speechless. He didn’t know what to say. He cleared his throat and swiped at his eye because Buck was _definitely_ not crying he had just looked into the sun for too long.

But Christopher seemed to understand, just like he always did. He grabbed Buck’s hand in his own and didn’t say anything else.

Buck cleared his throat again. He looked around their refuge. The water had receded significantly while they had been sitting there: the debris was scattered around the street with knee high water flowing through it. The trickling sound would have been pleasant in any other situation, but it gave Buck chills.

“Well, Fruit-Snack-Man,” Chris giggled.

“It’s time to head out. We need to make our way to the VA hospital and find a phone to let your dad know we’re okay.”

Chris nodded. Buck got to his feet unsteadily and waited for the world to stop swaying before he clambered down the sign and splashed indelicately in the water below.

“Your turn!”

Chris slid neatly into Buck’s right arm. Buck relished the warmth for a moment and hugged Chris tight, breathing him in.

“Alrighty superman. We’re on our way.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!  
> Please like/comment - it gives me the warm fuzzies.  
> I'll try to update again in the next few days.
> 
> Also I did hella research on the Santa Monica pier - found this cool old movie theater, so that's where the sign is from.   
> https://www.laemmle.com/theater/monica-film-center


	3. I Never Gave Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Buck and Chris make their way to the field hospital in the wake of the tsunami. Buck is badly injured and falls just as they reach safety, and who else to come rescue them except the firefam. 
> 
> Featuring hurt and finally some comfort and established Eddie/Buck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you SO much to those of you who commented and kudo'd.   
> I was so excited by all of your encouragement.   
> Thank you <3

Buck focused on placing one foot in front of the other, wading through the knee-deep water. It was far from easy. He hefted Chris a little higher on his hip and looked ahead. Sweat stung in his eyes as he glanced up the sloping street. Without thinking Evan tried to lift his left arm to wipe it away, winced, and carefully lowered it down to his side where it swung uselessly.

Buck was _exhausted_. Every part of him hurt. At least two ribs were broken - he could tell by the sharp stabbing pain when he inhaled too deeply. His leg ached constantly from strain and overuse. And then there was his ineffective, broken, and definitely infected left arm. It pounded dully in time with his heartbeat. Buck supposed that was a good sign – at least he still had blood flow to his fingers and the nerve damage was limited. And to top it all off? Blood loss and fatigue. Every part of him was begging to rest, to take a break, to stop, to give up. Buck looked down at Chris. The young boy was resting his head adorably on Buck’s shoulder. He knew he couldn’t give up – he had a child to take care of, a child that he loved like his own son.

 _Maybe he will be my son one day_ , Buck thought wistfully.

He avoided a splintered power line sticking half out of the water and continued up the street.

“Hey Buck?” Chris asked softly.

“What’s up kiddo?” Buck tried to put as much energy into his response as possible.

“There are people behind us.”

Buck whirled around as quickly as possible in his weakened state. He was terrified Chris had spotted some corpses. He’d been so careful to turn Chris away from any that he saw.

But instead, there was a group of people staggering towards him.

More survivors.

“Hello!” Buck shouted hoarsely. He felt his heart lift slightly because at least they weren’t alone anymore.

The group caught up to them within a few minutes: they were hollow eyed and burnt from the sun. Buck supposed he must look the same. Buck and Chris introduced themselves to their new companions. They all looked relieved to have found each other. Buck gave Chris the first half of their last bottle of water, and then passed it around to the group. He did a quick injury assessment – no one was too badly injured thankfully. Scratches, bruises, sprains, some deeper gashes, but they all looked up to the walk to the VA center.

The group trudged on.

As they walked sluggishly through the shallows Buck took note of the damage around them. Trees and shopping carts and cars and trash. There was an ambulance that had smashed into a brick wall head-on. Thankfully no one was inside at the time, but it was a haunting omen of their dire situation.

Help was not going to come they them. Every time someone wavered, or sat down to rest, the remainder of the group quietly encouraged them to keep going, to just walk for ten more minutes or thirty more minutes; that they could do it. As they walked up the hill and inland the ground became drier under their feet and the damage was less severe. There was hope.

* * *

Athena Grant parked her patrol car just off the road, right before the street damage began. She had completed her first patrol of the neighborhood she had assigned herself. She sipped her coffee and grimaced – that gas station had worse coffee than the precinct. She sighed and placed the leftovers in the cupholder next to her where it would no doubt go cold until she finally gave in and drank the rest sometime in the early morning. She was about to put her car in drive when she spotted a small group of people walking out of the heart of the destruction. She held her breath.

Thank god – someone was alive. Someone had made it out alive – she took stock of them as they got closer to her car. None of them seemed too injured to walk – they would have to self-evacuate to the field hospital. It was only a few blocks away.

_Looters reported at Darlington and South Amherst. Closest unit, please respond._

She sighed – truly no rest for the wicked or the tired. She looked at the huddled lot walking towards her again and could see them more clearly in the fading sunlight. At least two women over seventy; they were holding hands and walking carefully. A couple of men and women in their 30’s or 40’s. In the back there was a younger man holding a child.

Athena turned on her speaker and waited for the signature crackle.

“Everyone, please make your way two blocks north to the VA on Sawtelle. They are giving out food and water and blankets and medical treatment to anyone who needs it. I can’t fit all of you in my car and I just got called back into the field. You’re almost there, don’t give up.”

She saw a couple of tired thumbs up from the people in her high beams; they were just sitting down to take a break and catch their breath.

Athena shook her head slowly. What a shitty day. She pulled the car forward and around and headed to the looters.

“Dispatch this is Sergeant Grant, unit number 727-L-30. Over.”

Static, then,

“Hey Athena, this is dispatch. You’ve got Maddie Buckley here. What can we do for you?”

“Let the VA know they’ve got a group of ambulatory tsunami survivors walking in from the coast. Approximately ten people, should be there within the hour.”

“Copy 727-L-30. Thanks for the heads up. Stay safe out there.”

“Oh you know I’ll try my best, but sometimes the universe has other plans for me. Talk to you later Maddie.”

Athena replaced her radio in the car and reached for her coffee and she turned right.

She took a sip and grimaced.

_Already cold._

* * *

The sun was starting to set – Buck could feel Chris shivering. The policewoman had told them they were close, just a couple more blocks. But his feet were dragging. He had already tripped twice. He hadn’t fallen, but his various injuries had made themselves known with various pains as he stabilized himself. Buck used the adrenaline to keep going. Chris and one of the older women in the group were playing I Spy again.

“Is it a shopping cart?” The woman, her name was Diana, asked Chris.

Chris shook his head and let it flop backwards then snapped it back upright.

“No silly.”

Buck admired Chris’s ability to make anyone smile and that’s exactly what Diana was doing. She bit her lip and looked around again.

“Hmmm, oh! A skateboard!”

“Yeah! You got it. Okay, my turn!”

Buck shook his head dazedly – at least Chris wasn’t letting this get him down. 

They kept going, hindered by the darkness around them. The quiet wake of the water lapping against debris as they passed was almost peaceful. Buck let himself get lost in his thoughts – dutifully placing one foot in front of the other.

“There it is!” Diana shouted excitedly.  
They could see the lights on tents and the flurry of movement up ahead, less than a hundred yards away.

“Hey Chris,” Buck said, feeling his lip split as he tried to smile. “I spy, with my little eye, a hospital.”

Chris laughed excitedly.

Buck’s foot hit something in the water, something hard enough to cause reverberations throughout his leg and into his chest. He saw the broken pavement grow in front of him and knew he couldn’t stop the fall this time. He twisted so Christopher wouldn’t take the impact. The air exploded out of his chest as he hit the ground on his left side.

Buck’s vision went white.

* * *

Edmundo Diaz shone the pen light into a young boys’ eyes. He couldn’t have been much older than Chris and not for the first time that night he wished Buck had charged his phone so he could call his son to let him know he was alright.

“You’re all good,” Eddie said to the boy and his mother. “Make sure you eat and drink plenty. But that cut on his cheek should heal on its own. No need for stitches.”

“Thank you so much,” the woman said and she picked up her child and walked out the tent flap. Eddie walked into the fresh and rapidly chilling night air and rubbed his face. He was already starting to get stubble. He looked around and spotted Bobby, Hen, and Chim taking a break next to the morgue tent. They were talking quietly, no doubt trying to keep each other awake through the long night. 

Eddie strode over to them.

“When will this night end,” he asked them tiredly.

“ _HELP! Somebody, please, help us!_ ” The shout rang out from the darkness. The crew from the 118 whirled around and saw a woman waving her arms down the street from them.

“PLEASE!” she cried out again.

Bobby looked at Eddie with a raised eyebrow.

“Not yet, apparently,” he smirked. The firefighters grabbed a portable stretcher and started at a jog towards the woman.

“What can we do for you ma’am?” Hen reached for her when they got close enough. She shrugged the paramedic off and pointed frantically.

“It’s Diana. No ma’am here. And it’s not me that needs help – it’s the two over there on the ground. He fell and I think he was already hurt real bad. I didn’t get the big guy’s name but the little boy is Christopher .

Diana was pointing to the rest of the survivors who were huddled around a figure on the ground.

Eddie’s stomach lurched at the name, but he knew it was just a coincidence.

The paramedics hefted their gear higher on their shoulder and trotted over.

There was someone on the ground – tall and muscular and covered in blood. He was shaking and mumbling and with his right hand he was hugging a young boy to his chest desperately. The crowd parted, clearing the way to the injured pair.

Eddie, Hen, Chim, and Bobby all stopped dead in their tracks.

Buck was a mess – his eyes were wide with panic and they shone through the darkness. He was so dirty and bloody he was almost unrecognizable. His left arm was bandaged and the gashes on his face were deep.

Eddie’s feet moved before his brain did.

“Christopher,” he cried out and he stepped into the circle of onlookers.

Chris turned around.

“Daddy,” he wailed.

Eddie knelt beside his son and tried to pry him from Buck’s grasp. Buck looked at him without recognition.

“Have to save Chris. Gotta keep….safe…. wave…. Water…” Buck was mumbling incoherently.

Eddie gripped Buck’s face in his hands gently and forced him to look up into his eyes.

“Evan. It’s Eddie. You’re safe. Chris is safe. You’re safe,” he whispered to him.

Buck shook in his grip, but Eddie never lost eye contact with him.

 _Shock_ , he thought to himself. Chris was crying quietly but Eddie needed to make Buck know they were safe; he could relax now. They had to get him to let go of Christopher in order to treat both of them.

About a minute passed and Buck seemed to sag in his hands. His pupils dilated in the darkness. He looked at Eddie with confusion.

“Babe? Eddie? Oh fuck, where’s Chris?” His body jerked in Eddie’s arms as he tried to sit upright, but the utter exhaustion kept him slumped. Eddie could feel the frame trembling and he spoke carefully to avoid spooking his boyfriend.

“Buck, baby. Chris is right here. He’s in your arms. You are safe. You’re both safe. You’re at the field hospital.”

Buck relaxed a bit again and seemed to realize that he was already holding Chris’s to his right side. He pulled him in closer and kissed his head. Finally, reality seemed to catch up.

He looked into Eddie’s eyes once again, this time fully understanding what he was seeing: those beautiful brown eyes he wanted to spend the rest of his life looking into. Buck unconsciously let go of Christopher and fell into Eddie’s arms, sobbing.

“I didn’t lose him. I kept Chris safe I promise. He’s safe. I never gave up.” And then Buck was out cold.

As soon as Buck released Christopher, Bobby had scooped the boy up into his arms. He was crying and burned badly from the safe but otherwise seemed unharmed.

“Hey Chris, Hen and Chim are gonna take a look at Bucky while I make sure you’re okay,” he said in a calming voice.

Chris was beside himself with worry for he but nodded shakily. Bobby wrapped him in a mylar blanket tightly.

Hen and Chim rushed past them and began to tend to Buck. Eddie was still holding his boyfriend’s limp body in shock. How could he be _here_. The two EMT's lowered Buck so his head rested in Eddie’s lap. He fluttered his hands nervously around Buck’s temples, trying to find a spot clean of blood to rest them.

“I got multiple lacerations to his face, hold on… face and hands… wait, okay, well, multiple lacerations to all open skin,” Chim called out.

Hen looked at Buck’s palor and then the bloody rag tied to his arm.

“Clear signs of blood loss,” she said as she cut open Buck’s shirt to attach the leads.

Everyone in sight sucked in an audible gasp: Buck’s chest was a fantastic display of mottled bruising that extended from his left hip to his shoulder.

“Possible internal injuries and broken ribs,” Hen added to her list.

Chim sucked in his breath between his teeth. Hen looked over. He had unwrapped the strips of shirt from Buck’s left arm.

“Open fracture to the left radius. Significant blood loss. Cap, he needs a hospital now,” Hen looked at Bobby worriedly.

Bobby nodded.

“Get him on the stretched. I’ll call for an immediate evacuation to a surgical trauma center," Bobby ordered. 

"Eddie,” he added more gently.

Eddie looked up – tears streaming down his face as he held Buck’s head in his hands.

“Let them take him. Come hold your son.”

Eddie nodded carefully and wiped his eyes, leaving a smear of blood on his cheek. He kissed Evan on the forehead and then placed him gently on the ground. Chim and Hen were a flurry of movement around him. He came up to Bobby, who handed Chris off to him.

“ _Mijo_ ,” Eddie breathed into Chris’s ear and then hugged him tighter than he ever had in his life, feeling Chris’s sobbing inhales against his neck.

They watched in grim silence as Hen and Chim loaded Evan’s limp form onto a backboard. They waited with bated breath until an ambulance pulled up – lights flashing eerily against the dark city. The fresh paramedics loaded Buck into the back of the bus and closed the doors. The ambulance sped away.

Eddie, Chris, Bobby, Chim, and Hen watched it navigate out of sight. They were limp with shock. Eddie looked down at his hands.

They were bloody.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!  
> Next chapter will be the last chapter dealing with Buck in the hospital and a little bit of recovery. There will be more Maddie.  
> Anything else you want to see - let me know!


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